anotherguy

Current Bears in a Cub Scout Pack I've been part of for many years started with a large group of Lions. As Lions, they met once per month. This was a pack committee decision that was intended to start the kindergarteners out slowly. Unfortunately, in my opinion, they've kept that once-per month den meeting schedule through Tigers, Wolves, and Bears. Ours is a typical suburban public school pack with kids involved in multiple competing sports and after school programs. Most of our dens meet twice per month plus a pack meeting. The Council's reccomended course includes Cub Scouts activitie

At first glance this sounds like a great idea. But then, thinking about the new program it might get very complicated where there are generally 2 den meetings + 1 den outing to earn and adventure loop. What if a single parent has a Tiger and a Wolf? Where does that parent spend their time if one den is going on their outing and the other is doing one of their meetings? That might get tricky.

I stumbled across it on BSA's scoutingwire.org website. Some really good info in there.

BSA has released a full set of new pack meeting plans. There's enough of them to cover two years of pack meetings. Each one corresponds to a point of the Scout Law, but they can be done "out of order" to accommodate regional weather differences and other factors. I'm impressed. I've just taken a brief look at 5 or 6 months of the new plans and believe they're very well thought out, integrate with the Scout Law points, and appear extremely easy to follow. I know many of us like to customize our own pack meeting plans, but with a framework as good as this new setup is, I see little

Do what's best for your boys. Don't get caught up in the sentimentality of keeping a historic but struggling unit going- regardless of how long it's been around. You're not there to serve the Troop or the Chartered Org, you're there to serve the boys. Think about the big picture, help the boys get the most out of their Boy Scout experiences. Also, don't underestimate the good that all of you can do if you combined with the other Troop. Investing your time and energy into helping the new Troop become an even better Troop will be a win-win for all and has the additional possibility of attrac

LeCastor nailed it. Around here, the younger leaders among us are accustomed to receiving info via email, website, Facebook, text, or other electronic means. The families that those leaders communicate with are often even younger, using Facebook, Twitter and other mobile apps. The schools around us have gone "paperless" too- no paper flyers sent home with kids. Not even report cards! On the other hand, the most experienced (and often far older) leaders among us run the Roundtable meetings. Those older leaders pass out the flyers, photocopied papers from an old leader book, etc. Obviousl

For me, Rountable is one of the least productive aspects of scouting. Our Cub Scout sessions are regularly without any theme or purpose. The older Scouters don't often have current info either. When I've attended I pointed out (important) conflicting info found on the Council's website to the older Scouter leading the session. The response was a resigned "Oh well, just go ahead and rely on the info on the website". This didn't really instill confidence among those attending and doesn't provide a reason to return. The Scouter's heart was in the right place of course and I appreciate their

Amazing.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. You're probably right that Cub camping is an intro to families who haven't camped before. The problem I see is that the brand new families to our pack's campouts get a pretty strong first impression of what "camping" is. I think this first impression of "camping" may turn some folks away. First, to support one of our pack car camping trips a lot of gear and "stuff" is required. That means volunteers are needed to inventory, haul, unload, setup, etc. all this stuff. It requires a big effort from a number of folks, and I think that's daunting and o

Thanks for all of your thoughts and suggestions. I admit I'm probably a bit impatient with the Cub Scouts camping idea. As a family, we will venture a little further beyond the parking lot. For the pack, I think I'll suggest a few more day hike outings to provide some "lite" adventures. I hope that the long-awaited new Cub Scouts program will emphasize the "outing in Scouting". Looking forward to it!

I was never a Boy Scout, but I did earn my Arrow of Light many years ago. As a kid, our pack never spent much time outdoors. All hiking and camping experience I gained was outside of Scouting. My son's in Cub Scouts and he really enjoys it. As a leader, I'd like to make sure that our pack does spend more time outdoors. I've seen how important it is to get the boys outside having fun together. Problem is, some of the outdoor experiences we've experienced in Cub Scouts haven't been very adventurous. Don't get me wrong, we enjoy and attend all the Council day camps and weekend summer

We've found great success using the widely available google-based Cub Scout template. (Google to find it) It's customizable to each unit's needs. We also send brief emails with links to info posted on the pack's website. By far, our most effective tool is our online subscribable calendar. Google hosts these for free. We have a pack calendar and one for each den. That way our families only get the info they need. Tigers don't need to know when the Webelos campout is, etc... This calendar integrates well with the template based website I mentioned previously. Families can sync thes

I think the blue webbing Cub Scout belt was designed to be worn as any other belt. I've only seen it worn threaded through the fabric belt loops on the pants (usually jeans). There are a lot of boys that wear track/warmup/sweat pants. (Sometimes I think they wear them as pajamas too). But those don't work with the Cub Scout belt, and the belt (if they have one) is often left at home.

Here's a story that's bound to make you feel good. I have a son in Cub Scouts and two daughters in Girl Scouts. They all enjoy building and participating in the Pinewood Derby. Our pack is very welcoming, and have a sibling race that our girls love to compete in. The local Girl Scouts Service Unit (similar to a Cub Scouts pack/district) also holds an annual PWD for their Girl Scouts in our area. A few months ago, unfortunately, it looked as though they wouldn't be able to hold their annual Pinewood Derby. The pack they had previously worked with (who loaned the track, ran the

Assigning parents tasks in small chunks of responsibility works well. A first come- first serve "volunteer" sign up sheet at the beginning of the year is used for this purpose. Those that don't "volunteer" are assigned a task that may (or may not) suit their interest. For example, a dad that works in a medical office talks about first aid and staying healthy. A mom who volunteers at the local historical society can set up a den visit to an important community building. A dad who has carpentry experience can lead the kit building. All of this in support of the DL and the ADL, who in turn

This is very close to what we do in practice. One Den number, separate patrols (with different names and flags). Works great.

Good points and well said. Adding boys can be tricky if not done carefully. But also consider that by turning away those three, you might be turning away the opportunity to have an engaged parent that can contribute to the den. I'm thinking of a former Eagle Scout, an EMT, carpenter, veterinarian, camping enthusiast, entrepreneur, etc. With a large group it's important to require more parent involvement. Make that expectation clear from the outset. I may be wrong in my assessment, but it seems that the boys with more involved parents will likely stay with the program longer

3 dens would make sense numerically for the boys, but we'd need a few more leaders to make it work. Right now, we have 4 "shirted" leaders that handle the 24 in two dens. We do have the help of parents though which is key. The boys don't seem to be upset that a friend is in the "other" sub-den. We try to keep the program interesting so they don't have a chance to think about that stuff. ;-) Most of the boys know each other from school. We do some things together as one big den group, like games, bike rides, cookouts, etc. It's just easier to do the quieter things in smaller gro

This very thing is something we had to deal with early on this year. Lack of parent attentiveness and some out of hand kids was a challenge. The Den Leader(s) sent out an email identifying the problem and requiring more one-on-one participation. We also instituted a Den code of conduct that the boys created (with some steering by leaders). It was only a few points long- simple. We try to reinforce this Code of Conduct at each meeting. It made a huge difference. Still, people need to be reminded (parents and boys included).

We have a large Wolf den with 24 boys. We are lucky to have a very organized Den Leader with a clear plan, who has the support of 3 ADL's. I'm one of them. We also have a bunch of really helpful moms or dads. We require parent participation. "Drop offs" are rare. We split the 24 boys into two sub-dens/"patrols" and meet at school in two separate nearby group areas on the same day/time. The programs in each 12 boy sub-den are the same. Most of the boys show up most of the time. Usually, we have at least 10 show up in each sub-den. Sometimes we get together for announcements or g